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Decodon verticillatus

Decodon

Decodon verticillatus

swamp loosestrife [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Deptford pink flowers are 1/4-1/2" across with hairy petals that are pink with white dots, 10 stamens with purplish-pink anthers, and two 1 cm long, filamentous styles; the rounded tips of the petals are toothed. The calyx is long (3/4") relative to the size of the corolla, tubular, and hairy with five thin extensions; narrow bracts lie more or less parallel to the elongated calyx. No other local flower looks anything like Deptford pinks.

Dianthus

Dianthus armeria

Deptford pink [Blooms: Jun-Aug]

Sweet-William's (Dianthus barbatus) inflorescence, located at the apex of the stem, is a flat-topped or slightly domed cyme of 5-30 flowers. Individual flowers are about an inch across consisting of a tubular calyx about 3/8" long with five sharply triangular lobes; five broad, variously colored petals that have very narrow bases ("clawed") and a toothed or fringed outer edge; 10 stamens with purplish anthers (which often fall off the filament); and two styles. Fertilized flowers produce oval to cylindrical seed capsules about 1/2" long with four teeth around the open end. The flowers of Sweet-William are edible. Sweet-William prefers deep, organic-rich, well drained soils in full sun, preferably in a disturbed site. The sweet William plants growing in Jackson Park are undoubtedly escapees from a nearby garden (a rare event). The only other Dianthus spp. in Jackson Park is Deptford pink (Dianthus armeria), also a perennial exotic. The two species are similar in having fringed petals and a terminal inflorescence, but otherwise you would never confuse them; Deptford pink is a subtle beauty, sweet William shouts for joy.

Dianthus

Dianthus barbatus

sweet-William [Blooms: Jun-Jul]

Purple coneflower flowerheads are solitary, 2.5-4" across, on the end of light green stems with purple streaks. The center of flowerhead is a flattened or (usually) peaked cone of numerous reddish-orange disc florets about 1/4" long, tubular, deep red to purplish-brown in color; stamens bear yellow pollen. The 10-20 ray florets are each 1.5-3" long and 1/4-3/4" wide, initially spreading, but droop as they mature; they are pink to purple, elongate-oval, often with three notches at the tips of the petals.

Echinacea

Echinacea purpurea

purple coneflower [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Yerba de tajo's flowerheads arise in groups of 1-3 from the leaf axils on short pedicels; individual flowerheads are 1/4-1/3" across with 8-16 triangular, green, basal bracts, numerous (20+) off-white, thin ray florets with a protruding style, and numerous (15+) light grey to cream disc florets with four tiny spreading lobes, and four protruding light brown anthers and a branching style. Ray flowers are pistillate; disc flowers have both stamens and pistils.

Eclipta

Eclipta prostrata

yerba de tajo [Blooms: Aug-Sep]

Aunt Lucy (Ellisia nyctelea) flowers arise from the leaf axils. The flowers are small and tubular (1/4" wide x 1/2" long); the five petallike lobes are white with purple lines or specks; the five stamens are hidden within the corolla, alternating with the corollar lobes and the style is divided for about half ts length; the sepals are hairy and as large as the petals. The fruit is a 1/4" long hairy, white body that looks like two spheres squashed together, resting on the sepals; it usually contains 4 seeds. This species is very common in late spring in open but shaded areas on Wooded Island. How it acquired the moniker "Aunt Lucy" is obscure.

Ellisia

Ellisia nyctelea

Aunt Lucy [Blooms: Apr-Jun]

Cinnamon willowherb flowers are 1/4-1/3" across and arise from the axils of the upper leaves on 1/2" flower stalks, but the ovary of the flower is a hairy, elongate cylinder slightly wider than the flower stalk; the base of the sepals and petals (less than 1/4" long) may thus be elevated 1.5" above the leaf axil — a tiny flower on the tip of a long cylinder. Above the elongated ovary are four green sepals (with pink or purple tints), four deeply-notched white or light pink petals, a stout pistil with a knobby end, and eight stamens, four long, four short. After fertilization, the ovary elongates to as much as 3" long, dries to a brown color, then splits into two or four segments to release tiny seeds suspended under a tuft of long light brown hairs.

Epilobium

Epilobium coloratum

cinnamon willowherb [Blooms: Jul-Sep]

Winged euonymous' younger stems and branches have geen bark and 2-4 cork-like "wings" (thin plates whose plane lies in a radius of the branch). Clusters of 1-3 flowers arise from leaf axils; individual flowers are about 1/3" (8 mm) across with four green sepals, four yellowish-green petals, four stamens, and a green central dome which bears the single pistil with a reddish, multilobed stigma. Four-lobed seed capsules become dark red or purple at maturity; they split to expose 1-4 reddish-orange arils.

Euonymus

Euonymus alatus

winged Euonymus [Blooms: May-Jun]

Eastern wahoo (Euonymus atropurpureus) is a native shrub or small tree whose range covers most of the eastern half of the U.S. The inflorescence is a branching cyme that arises from a leaf axil; the cyme carries seven to about twenty reddish-purple to maroon flowers. Individual flowers are about 8 mm (a bit over 1/4") across, hairless, with four greenish purple, oval sepals that are fused at their bases; four spreading, reddish purple, oval petals; four stubby stamens with yellow anthers; and a pistil with a short, stout, green style. Fertilized flowers produce a four lobed seed capsule, initially light pink or pale purple but maturing to pinkish purple. The seed capsule splits open in the fall to expose four fleshy, bright red arils (the fruits), each of which contains two seeds. A handout occasionally distributed by the Jackson Park Advisory Council ("Wooded Island Tree Identification") identifies one tree on the west side of Wooded Island (south of Osaka Garden) as an Eastern Wahoo. This tree, unfortunately, is not an Eastern wahoo but is instead an exotic species of Euonymus — a European spindletree (E. europaeus). Indeed, all the Euonymus sp. on Wooded Island are one of three exotic species — winged Euonymus (E. alatus), European spindletree (E. europaeus), or Hamilton's spindletree (E. hamiltonianus) and all three have blooms that lack the deep maroon color of Eastern wahoo's flowers. A sapling labeled "Eastern Wahoo (Euonymous atropurpureus)" was planted on the south shore of Columbia Basin in 2022. When it bloomed this year (2026) and showed maroon petals on the flowers, I could finally confirm that species identification. The seed capsule of Eastern Wahoo is pinker than those of European spindletree (E. europaeus) or Hamilton's spindletree (E. hamiltonianus) and the arils are orange or scarlet respectively, not the red of Eastern wahoo. The best way to distinguish the three species is by the color of their petals — only Eastern wahoo has reddish purple to maroon petals, while the other two species have petals that are white, green, or yellow.

Euonymus

Euonymus atropurpureus

Eastern wahoo [Blooms: Jun]

European spindletree flowers (usually less than 7) occur in clusters (cymes) with long peduncles; they have four sepals, four petals, four stamens with white anthers, and a single stout style. The greenish-white or yellow petals on the flowers appear to be very narrow, half the width of the petals of Hamilton's spindletree. (In reality, the petals are curled into a U-shape towards the stem so they only appear narrow.) The sepals are pale green, about half the length of the petals, and bent back beneath the flower. The fruit is pink, not red; the arils covering the seeds are orange, not red or scarlet. European spindletree blooms later in the spring in Jackson Park than Hamilton's spindletree.

Euonymus

Euonymus europaeus

European spindletree [Blooms: Apr-Jun]

Tall boneset flowerheads are tiny (1/8" across) with no ray florets and typically only five disc florets. Disc florets are dull white with a tubular corolla and a long bifurcated style that extends well away from the floret; the base of the style is greenish and surrounded by five brown stamens with white tips. The apex of the corolla has five prominant, triangular lobes that give the florets a star-like appearance.

Eupatorium

Eupatorium altissimum

tall boneset [Blooms: Aug-Oct]

Common boneset's upper stem and branches bear clusters 2-8" across of white flowerheads. Each flowerhead is about 4-6 mm across consisting of ~15-20 dull white disk florets (ray florets are absent); florets have a tubular corolla with five triangular lobes at the apical end and a long, bifurcated style surrounded at its base with a brown column of five stamens with purplish anthers. Ironically, "common" boneset is less common than late boneset or tall boneset in Jackson Park.

Eupatorium

Eupatorium perfoliatum

common boneset [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Late boneset's inflorescence is a flat-topped or shallowly-domed panicle with numerous flowerheads. Individual flowerheads are composed of 12-15 greyish-white disk floret (ray florets are absent) about 1/4" long with a tubular corolla with five small, triangular apical lobes and a long white bifurcated style extending well out from the floret surrounded by five black stamens. Leaf venation, lack of leaf hairs, and and smaller flowerheads (~5-8 florets) distinguish tall bonset (E.altissium) from late boneset (E. serotinum; 12-15 florets).

Eupatorium

Eupatorium serotinum

late boneset [Blooms: Aug-Oct]

Seaside sandmat cyathia (cup-like reproductive structures typical of euphorbs) develop between pairs of leaves, typically one cyathium with a short reddish stalk per pair of leaves. On the rim of the cyathium are four to six red nectar glands; each nectar gland alternates with a narrow, elongate lobe. In the center of the cyathium is a female flower with a three-lobed, light green ovary topped by a tripartite style; the flower sits on a stout pedicel that elongates and curves as it matures. Between the central female flower and the rim of the cyathium are several male flowers, each consisting of a single stamen. Seaside sandmat prefers beach habitats around the Great Lakes and along the Atlantic coast.

Euphorbia

Euphorbia polygonifolia

seaside sandmat [Blooms: Jul-Sep]

Gallant-soldier (aka, small-flowered galinsoga) flowerheads are about 1/4" across; they have 4-8 (usually 5) ray florets with a single minute (about 2x2 mm) white petal notched to produce two or three lobes; the ray florets are distributed around the circumstance of the disc. There are 15-50 golden yellow, tubular disc florets with five short triangular lobes at their apex. Both ray and disc florets are fertile; the ray florets are pistillate while the disc florets are perfect (both pistils and stamens). The fruit (a cypsela) consists of a black, conical seed suspended beneath about five off-white, papery, fringed scales that act as a parachute. Gallant-soldier is very similar to galinsoga (Galinsoga quadriradiata); the latter has larger flowerheads and ray floret petals.

Galinsoga

Galinsoga parviflora

gallant-soldier [Blooms: Aug-Sep]

Galinsoga (aka, Peruvian daisy or shaggy soldier) flowerheads are small (1/4" across) with 4-8 (usually five) widely separated 2.5 mm long, white ray florets with three teeth at their tips. The 15-35 disc florets are yellow. Both ray and disc florets are fertile; the ray florets are pistillate while the disc florets are perfect (both pistils and stamens). The fruit (a cypsela) consists of a black, conical seed suspended beneath about five off-white, papery, fringed scales that act as a parachute. A poisonous plant (Tridax procumbens) with nearly identical flowers (but distinctly different leaves) is (luckily) restricted to FL and TX in the U.S. so not likely to show up in Jackson Park. The name Galinsoga ciliata, sometimes still used for Galinsoga quadriradiata, is invalid (ITIS); according to the USDA Plants database, C. ciliata has been superceded by either G. quadriradiata or G. urticifolia.

Galinsoga

Galinsoga quadriradiata

galinsoga [Blooms: Jun-Oct]

Cream gentian the leaves are olive-green, lance-shaped with a pronounced fold along the midvein, 3" long and 2" across, and clasp the stem. Although most leaves are opposite (in pairs), the leaves just below the flowers occur in a whorl of three. The flowers are mostly apical, some version of white or cream, tubular, with the petal's veins outlined in green, about 1-2" tall and 3/4" across, and oriented near-vertically. The five petals remain tightly appressed, with only a small opening where their apices meet; the five stamens and pistil with a bifurcated stigma are usually hidden from view. Bumblebees are the primary pollinators.

Gentiana

Gentiana alba

cream gentian [Blooms: Jul-Oct]

Carolina crane's-bill flowers are small (about 1/4-3/8" across), in small clusters on stubby pedicels. Each flower contains five dull-green, very hairy, lance-shaped sepals with long, scarlet-tipped awns on the tips, five white to pinkish-lavendar petals shorter than the sepals, ten stamens with tan anthers, and five stamens fused at their bases. The fruit is spherical with a very long beak divided longitudinally into five sections; when ripe (the fruit turns bright red) , the beak splits violently into five strips attached to each other at their distal ends, flinging the seeds far from the parent plant. Carolina crane's-bill has white to pinkish flowers with sepals longer than the petals; cut-leaved crane's-bill (Geranium dissectum) has deep pink to purple flowers with sepals the same length as the petals.

Geranium

Geranium carolinianum

Carolina crane's-bill [Blooms: May-Jun]